Grace unto you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Grace and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ is the greeting given in this verse. It was given to the persecuted church, grounding comfort amid oppression in its divine source. That grace and peace are given to believers to keep them from discouragement when unbelief and opposition come into the churches. They mean to keep the mind stayed upon the Lord and to gird on His armor, to leave what cannot be understood with God, and to encourage faith that works by love and purifies the soul.
The greeting leads at once into thankfulness that faith grows exceedingly and that mutual love of every one toward each other abounds. It is joined to glorying in patience and faith in all persecutions and tribulations endured. That patience and faith in suffering is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that sufferers may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God for which they suffer.
It opens a chapter that should be connected with the fifth chapter of 1 Thessalonians. The words of the whole chapter should sink deep into every heart. The chapter should be read and carried into practice as a lesson of greatest importance.
Grace and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ is the greeting given in this verse. It was given to the persecuted church, grounding comfort amid oppression in its divine source. That grace and peace are given to believers to keep them from discouragement when unbelief and opposition come into the churches. They mean to keep the mind stayed upon the Lord and to gird on His armor, to leave what cannot be understood with God, and to encourage faith that works by love and purifies the soul.
The greeting leads at once into thankfulness that faith grows exceedingly and that mutual love of every one toward each other abounds. It is joined to glorying in patience and faith in all persecutions and tribulations endured. That patience and faith in suffering is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that sufferers may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God for which they suffer.
It opens a chapter that should be connected with the fifth chapter of 1 Thessalonians. The words of the whole chapter should sink deep into every heart. The chapter should be read and carried into practice as a lesson of greatest importance.